Community Engagement

MAPP International’s methodology invests not only in artists’ creative work, but in opening up their processes to engage diverse communities in respectful exchanges of ideas and inspirations. This is addressed by the contextualization and community involvement in diverse formats, including People's Potlucks, Artist Salons, discussion groups, work-in-progress, and artistic workshops. MAPP continues to strategically devise contact points between artists and communities during each work’s development, and these participatory activities become templates for engagement that MAPP provides to tour presenters.

Samita Sinha’s Open Voice Workshops, designed for young women of color, strengthen the sense of self through empowering the voice. The workshops are comprised of girls between the ages of 11 and 18, each selected by the host organization from their constituents in consultation with Sinha. In these workshops, each girl explores their unique voice – its range of sounds, the different ways it emerges from the body, and how to balance listening and sounding when singing in a group. The participants experiment with electronics to hear the voice from new perspectives, including the sound of their recorded voices through microphones. Through writing and discussion, they are able to connect their vocal explorations with the idea of authentic voice (literally and metaphorically), speaking up, and challenging stereotypes/projections in the contemporary world.

Artist Salons are unique, participatory events inspired by the artist's work and all of its inspirations. During the Salon, live or video performance excerpts by the artist(s) are interspersed with conversations among audience members, along with stories and ideas that inspire the work. The salon brings the audience closer to the artist the creative process in an intimate way that removes the barrier between the performance on stage and the viewing spectator.

Recent Salons include Cipher Artist Salon with Samita Sinha and Dr. Stephen Cowan on June 11th, 2014; and the Holoscenes Salon with Lars Jan, hosted by Art Assets on February 25th, 2014.

Artist Exchanges bring touring artists together with local artists in an informal setting to meet one another, to share a moment of the art they create, and to discuss how they sustain their own lives as working artists in their respective countries and cultures. The goal is to connect artists with one another in ways they find interesting--to encourage cross-cultural appreciation, to share arts practice and creative sustenance, and to provide the opportunity for organic and potentially long-term connections to occur.

For the 2013 Artist Exchange, Gregory Maqoma (from South Africa) and his company of musicians were gathered in an informal environment (Movement Research’s Avenue C Studios) with contemporary performing artists during Maqoma’s New York City residency and performance, Exit/Exist.

In October 2014, Faustin Linyekula (from Democratic Republic of Congo) and Panaibra Canda (from Mozambique), will creatively conspire in this Artist Exchange with local NYC artists.